


Starlight

by CarmenImbrium



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: F/M, Nalu Day 2016
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-28
Updated: 2016-07-28
Packaged: 2018-07-27 05:49:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7606081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CarmenImbrium/pseuds/CarmenImbrium
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>// the whole place was dressed to the nines and we were dancing, dancing like we're made of starlight //</p>
            </blockquote>





	Starlight

**Author's Note:**

> Happy belated Nalu Day! I meant to write this yesterday, but I ended up being too busy. This is loosely based on Starlight by Taylor Swift, which I highly recommend listening to.

“Natsu, are you sure this is a good idea?”

“C’mon, Luce, it’ll be fun!”

Lucy pulled at her stiff collar, not entirely thrilled to be back in a ballgown, but curious about Natsu’s plans nonetheless. She smoothed down the front of the deep blue dress and took a deep breath, turning her head to get a better look at her hair in the mirror. It was pulled back into an elegant braided bun that pulled at her scalp in a familiar but unpleasant way. When Natsu had first waved the flier for the job in her face, she took it without a second thought because, as usual, she really needed the money. However, she hadn’t expected she’d be back in a gown and entertaining strangers at an upscale party.

She couldn’t deny that Natsu looked good in his suit, though. The dark grey fabric matched nicely with his signature scarf, which he had tied like a cravat around his neck, and his slicked-back pink hair provided just the right pop of color. It had been his idea in the first place to crash the party rather than confronting the criminal as they were leaving. They would talk their way in under the guises of Duchess Lucina von Hart and Prince Nathan of Salmanda (also his idea) and capture the jewelry thief as the party ended. That way they could have some fun and, as he put it, “get some free fancy grub” while they were at it.

Night had already fallen by the time they arrived at the stately mansion. A thin crowd was filtering in through the main gate, and Lucy and Natsu blended in undetected. With every step, Lucy fought the urge to bolt back to the inn and away from the chandeliers and champagne, but Natsu slipped his hand around her waist to keep himself from getting too far away and she relaxed a bit. Luckily, the butler checking for invitations was distracted with another guest who had forgotten theirs, allowing Natsu’s plan to somehow go off without a hitch.

Once inside the giant ballroom, Lucy took a moment to shake off her anxiety and marvel at the gilded thirty foot ceiling and ridged marble pillars. Natsu made a beeline for the hors d'oeuvres table, and she didn’t notice until he’d returned to her side, pockets and cheeks full of shrimp and spinach puffs.

“You gotta try some of these!” he said, swallowing another puff whole and dragging her back towards the table. “You like spinach, right? ‘Cause if you don’t, they’ve got cheese ones, too.”

Lucy let herself be led away from the entrance, but she wasn’t listening to Natsu. She glanced around the ballroom, searching for their target, but he was nowhere to be found. “Natsu,” she hissed, catching his attention. “Where is he? I don’t see him anywhere.”

He just shrugged. “We’ve got time. The party just started. Loosen up a little!”

As if on cue, a sextet of strings began to play, and Natsu’s eyes lit up. “Hey, Lucy, let’s dance!”

The dance floor was already full of couples, spinning around each other as if they were synchronized. Amidst the group, the two of them were predictably off-tempo and Natsu didn’t even try to disguise the fact that he had no idea what he was doing, but Lucy found herself smiling nonetheless. The tiny voice in the back of her head told her to focus on the job and keep searching the room, but she allowed herself to let go and have some fun. By the end of the song, she and Natsu were both laughing like idiots, drawing unwanted attention to themselves, but she couldn’t find it in her to care. “You know, Natsu, I never thought I’d actually have fun at a party like this.”

Natsu grinned widely at her and opened his mouth to say something, but another butler came up behind them and tapped him on the shoulder. “Excuse me, sir, ma’am, but I don’t believe my colleague or I checked for your invitation.”

“Don’t you know who we are?” Natsu crossed his arms over his chest and put on an overly offended expression. “I don’t think your boss would be very happy to know you’re harassing us.”

“Sir, if you don’t have an invitation, I’m going to have to ask the two of you to leave.”

“Go on, Luce, tell him who we are!” Natsu grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her forward.

She flushed and laughed nervously, rubbing the back of her neck. “We’re… we’re on our way out. Sorry to bother you. Let’s go,” she grabbed him by the sleeve and tried to head for the door, but he stood his ground.

“We’re not leaving yet,” he said. Leaning closer to her, he whispered, “Don’t we still have a job to do?”

“Well, how do you suppose we do it? They figured us out, Natsu. We’ll have to leave and come up with another plan,” she hissed back. She looked back at the butler and saw a small group of guards coming through the doors behind him. “Um, Natsu, we’ve got a little bit of a problem...”

“Sorry, guys, but we’ve gotta go! Great spinach things, by the way!” He grabbed her hand and pulled her quickly through the crowd, slipping behind a wide pillar just outside the doors and holding a finger to her mouth as the guards ran past them down the hallway. The large window behind them was cracked halfway open and he jumped through it, beckoning from the other side for her to do the same. She rolled her eyes and, deciding there really were no other ways out, hiked her skirts up and stepped through. The sky above them illuminated the ground beneath them as they snuck through the garden, Natsu holding back giggles at the thrill of the adventure.

“Shh! Someone’s gonna hear us!” Lucy thwacked him on the shoulder. “Do you want to get caught?”

He threw his head back and laughed, his smile wide and his eyes glistening with joy. She leapt forward to clap a hand over his mouth, but he grabbed it and laced his fingers in hers. “Look,” he whispered, pointing up at the sky with his free hand, “don’t you see the starlight?”

Her eyes widened at the thousands of tiny lights dotting the sky. The lack of pollution from the tiny village was more evident than ever, and she could pick out every star in every constellation. “Wow…” For a moment, she forgot about the party and the job and the guards chasing them, and her whole world became the night sky and Natsu’s hand in hers.


End file.
